Hi everybody I posted this under flight training when it probably belonged right here.

I've been doing UPT applications for a lot of ANG units and out of 5 applications submitted I was invited to one interview. I had no idea how competitive this would be. The unit was absolutely awesome and the interview went real well. However I was not selected as the primary (lost out to some RJ pilot) so the board strongly encouraged me to apply for the next board. It was very encouraging because the officer even gave me a phone call not just one of those form letters. It was so awesome to be so close.

The dilemma for me is that I'm getting up there in age (27) now and if you're not selected by age 28.5 you're pretty much not going to be eligible for UPT. Seeing how things are pretty competitive with no guarentees I was wondering what most of you would have done if UPT hadn't had worked for you?

I went down to Sanford FL once to check out the DCA Academy and it was crazy they wanted like 100k for the program and honestly it seemed like a shoddy outfit. ATP seems a little cheaper and those guys seem to be getting hired. Then I found this other place ran by Mesa (Mesa Pilot Development Program). However on the forums I constantly read about how bad Mesa is.

I'm just doing some long term planning and trying to see in the event UPT doesn't work out actually how bad are these expensive pilot training mills like ATP/Mesa?

I really enjoy these forums and thanks again everyone for their input